Fuses and anti-fuses are important components in modern semiconductor devices. In one application, fuses and anti-fuses can be used to deactivate defective rows of memory on a chip and activate redundant rows of memory to replace those defective rows, thus increasing the manufacturing yield of these semiconductor devices. In another application, fuses and anti-fuses can be used to activate and deactivate certain components on a semiconductor device, thereby allowing a customer to create application specific semiconductor device from a generic device. In yet another application, fuses and anti-fuses can be used to create serial numbers that uniquely identify the semiconductor device. One possible application of this technology is uniquely numbered computer chips for radio-frequency identification tags.
To suit these widely varying applications, it is desirable to use fuse and anti-fuse devices that do not require additional manufacturing steps and which can be reliably activated and deactivated. It is also desirable to utilize fuse devices that can be repetitively programmed and erased, as the need arises. It is also desirable to utilize fuse devices that have very low power dissipation in a standby mode. It is also desirable to utilize fuse devices that generate distinct and stable logic states for signal sensing.